Homily for 19th Sunday Ordinary Time Year A 2023
Introduction
Do you have a favourite apostle? Mine is St. Peter. And the reason Peter is my favourite apostle
is not because he was chosen by Jesus to be the head of the Church, but that he
is very much like me, very much like the Church itself. He is imperfect, very imperfect.
He is often saying the wrong thing, doing
the wrong thing. How can we forget his
boldly promising the Lord that he would stay with him even unto death, and then
a few hours later, denying Jesus, not once, not twice, but three times! How can we forget last Sunday’s gospel where
in excitement he tells Jesus that he wants to build three tents so that they
can remain on the mountain? And in
today’s gospel we see him in his impetuousness asking Jesus to have him walk on
water, but then doubting and soon after beginning to sink.
If ever there was a patron saint for
imperfect people, I think St. Peter would win that prize. And today’s gospel story shows Peter and the
disciples being their usual selves, their usual imperfect selves and so provide
us with a model of how to deal with our own imperfections and like them become
saints.
Scripture and Theology
Let us return to today’s gospel to reflect
on three aspects of our journey from imperfection to perfection.
First, the setting of the gospel passage
shows us what the Church is. The
apostles and disciples of Jesus are in a boat, a boat often being the image of
the Church. That is why the Church is
often called the barque or boat of St. Peter.
And this boat is crossing the sea, from our side to the other side, to
heaven. But as often happens with sea
voyages, sometimes the sea is rough and to get to the other side, we have to
overcome some rough seas.
And like the disciples, when we encounter
those rough seas, we are afraid, it even feels like Jesus has abandoned
us. In the gospel passage, where is
Jesus? Why is he not in the boat with
the frightened disciples? Therefore,
feeling abandoned amidst the turbulent waves, the disciples were afraid and scared,
just as we the Church today sometimes are also afraid. What is happening to us? We ask. What is going to happen to our church, to our
society, to our children and grandchildren?
God why have you abandoned us, we lament.
This image of the crossing the Sea was
already anticipated in the Old Testament at the crossing of the Red Sea by
Moses and the people of Israel. They too
were troubled by the waters. What did
they do? What do we do?
And this brings me to the second point;
what is our response, our reaction to the storms of life? What do we do when the boat of our lives is
being tossed about? What do we do when
friends and spouses fail us? What do we
do when the leaders of the Church fail us? What do we do when our society seems
to be falling apart? What do we do when
things we had endowed with importance in our lives are no longer that important?
There are at least three possible responses,
two of them bad, and only one good.
1.
The ever-optimistic people
among us, those who wear rose-coloured glasses, will not see a problem at
all. They will say, don’t worry.
Everything is just fine. What is a
little storm! These are the apathetic people.
2.
At the other extreme, the
ever-pessimistic, will like Chicken Little shout that the sky is falling. They will blow the storm out of proportion; perhaps
even create a storm in a tea-cup. They
will stoke unfounded fears among people, making extraordinary claims that are
not rooted in truth.
3.
As usual, virtue lies in the
middle. The correct response is to
tackle the storm head-on, appropriately recognising it for what it is, not too
much, not too little. This response
turns to Jesus who guides is addressing the storm.
That brings us to the third point of our
reflection. We have seen how we react.
But what is Jesus doing while all this happens? Jesus has in fact not abandoned us. Just as in the story he had gone to the
mountain to pray, for us he has gone to the mountain of the Lord to intercede
for us. He continues to intercede for us
at the right hand of the Father. All he
asks is that we turn to him and ask for his help. He is not a ghost; he is real, albeit with
the Father. He is one who tells us: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."
Rather than looking for him in all manner
of places, sometimes unhealthy places, we should seek and find him where he is
present among us. Remember Elijah found God
in the unlikeliest of places, in the whispering sound. Where is Jesus to be found now, since the
Ascension?
The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council,
taught us where and how to find Jesus Christ, who continues to fulfil his
mission among us. They named four main ways in which he is present among
us. And so they said:
To accomplish so great a work, Christ is
always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations.
[First] He is present in the
sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, "the same
now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on
the cross" [Council of Trent, Session XXII, Doctrine on the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass, c. 2.], but especially under the Eucharistic species.
[Second] By His power He is present
in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who
baptizes [Cf. St. Augustine, Tractatus in Ioannem, VI, n. 7.].
[Third] He is present in His word,
since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the
Church.
[Fourth] He is present, lastly, when
the Church prays and sings, for He promised: "Where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt.
18:20) .
Yes, Jesus is off to the mountain to pray,
off seating at the right hand of the Father, but he is also present among us
today in his Mass, in the Sacraments, in his Word and in the whole church
especially when we are gathered together as a community.
Application
My brothers and sisters, the fact is that
the storms of the sea voyage on which we are, on our way to heaven, are not
going to go away any time soon. We
better make peace with the fact that we have to confront them head-on. And the Lord has told us that he is with us.
Like Peter does in this gospel and
elsewhere, let us turn to the Lord when we are in fear. We turn to him in the Eucharist and
Sacraments, in his Word and in the gathered Church, drawing from these sources,
what we need for spiritual strength and daily sustenance. Even when we foolishly doubt and stumble as
we try to walk on water like Peter, we can still cry out to him again in the same
Eucharist and Sacraments, in his Word and the gathered community of the Church,
crying out, “Lord save me, I am drowning.”
Besides the bumbling St. Peter, my
favourite apostle, many other saints also show us how to handle distress and
fear. The saintly Mother Teresa was not
without distress in her life, experiencing the dark night of the soul,
experiencing an apparent absence of Jesus in her life. But she never gave up. She still turned to
him in prayer, to strengthen and guide her.
Conclusion
And so, let us remember, that Jesus is only
a phone call away, as it were; he is just a prayer away, in the Eucharist, in
the Sacraments, in his Word and in our brothers and sisters. He is not a ghost.
He is really present, if only we call upon him.
